ANTIQUITIES OF TENNESSEE. 271 



tact with the soil. They are large in the center, gradually tapering 

 each way to the end. There were also some broken fragments of pot- 

 tery, bnt no entire vessels. We penetrated the center of this mound 

 until we struck the top of the hill, and it appeared that the builders had 

 made no change in its apex, but simply piled up rocks, with, possibly, 

 some soil, at its summit, the top being slightly truncated. 



About two miles to the west is a group of mounds, and a cemetery, 

 and every evidence of a large encampment. Earth-works were also once 

 there, but they have been destroyed by cultivation, being located in a 

 very fertile valley on West Harpeth, and all fully in view of this mound. 

 I am under the impression that this was an advanced outpost for the 

 village, and, as such, was used as a signal station to warn the inhabit- 

 ants of approaching danger. There was no altar at its bottom, nor 

 any evidence of fire, except just above the graves, where a few ashes were 

 found, caused probably by the signal-fires here lighted. Whether the 

 terrace was made by the subtraction of the soil in the formation of the 

 mound, or by soil carried there, did not appear. 



Iforth of this hill and near its base, on a slight elevation, were three 

 small mounds, not more than 20 feet in diameter and about G feet high, 

 though their height had been reduced by cultivation. I examined two of 

 them, and found no remains of skeletons or relics, but beneath the level 

 of the surrounding land was a simple pile of stone mixed with ashes. 

 These were evidently altars, and though rudely put up, showed the 

 handiwork of man. We went altogether below the stones, but found 

 nothing. I then removed my party to the farm of Samuel F. Glass, to 

 the encampments above alluded to, about two miles to the west. There 

 is a fine group of mounds, and four of them are in a line from north to 

 south ; a large one in the center, flanked on the south by two small ones, 

 and on the north by another, evidently intended to be a large one, but 

 from some interruption never finished. This last was not more than 

 3 feet high, though 75 feet in diameter. It had been cultivated a great 

 number of years, but showed distinctly its proportions. Being in cultiva- 

 tion at the time of my visit, I did not examine it. The two smaller ones 

 were about 6 feet high and 20 feet in diameter, while the largest was 20 

 feet high and 400 feet in circumference. They did not stand in a per- 

 fect line, but formed the segment of a very large circle, the largest mound 

 forming the lowest part of the curve. I made a section across the large 

 one, carefully noting the work which progressed from either side. I 

 dug east and west two trenches, rneetiug in the center. This proved very 

 conclusively to have been a sacrificial mound, and though the relics found 

 were indeed few, yet they were of the greatest interest. There were 

 no stones in the mound, it being constructed entirely of soil, not even 

 any clay being visible. It had, 5 feet from the summit, a layer of ashes 

 and baked earth. This layer was conical, as if spread over the top and 

 afterward covered up. The evidence of fire extended about 8 feet over 

 the surface, so that, in the section presented to view, the ashes formed 



